Johist a



Patented May 19, 1885.

(No Model.)

J. A. BURR.

SHUTTER FASTENER.

N. PETERS, Phnm-umagnphm. washmgwn. uc.

F lllllllllllllllillllll lill oaooooooooo od r 1 WIWI-:55 E5 STATES PATENT OEEIOE.

JOHN A. BURR, OE NEW YORK, N. Y.

SHUTTER- FASTEN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 318,414, dated May 19, 1885.

Application filed June 27, 1884. (No model.)

fo all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. BURR, of the city, county, and State of New York, a citizen of the United States, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Shutter-Fasteners; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying sheet of drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention is in the nature of an improvement in shutter-fasteners; and the invention consists in a shutter-fastener constructed to be operated from the outside of the shutter by a Stream of water in the manner hereinafter shown, described, and claimed.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure l is a front elevation with shutters closed; Fig. 2, a front elevation with shutters Open; Fig. 3, a vertical section of windowcasing showing position of spring; Fig. 4, section showing in full and dotted lines locked and unlocked position of the latch, Fig. 5, plan of under side of cup device.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in the several figures.

As a protection against tire it is customary to provide the windows, and sometimes the doors, of warehouses and oth er large buildings with iron shutters, usually consisting of two leaves of sheet-iron fastened on their inner sides to a metal cross-bar, so that no means of Opening the shutters is presented from the outside; therefore, in the event of fire within the building valuable time is lost in prying and cutting open these iron shutters by the firemen, who, under such circumstances, work at a great disadvantage from ladders. The time consumed in effecting an entrance in this Way often works irreparable injury. To prevent this loss, and at the same time to afford a prompt and easy means of opening the shutters in case of lire, various means have been devised, and in line with my invention the shutter-latch has had a plate applied, against which a stream of water is to be directed from outside the building to open the shutters, springs being employed to throw them open when the latch is released.

In my form of this invention I construct my shutters with the ordinary two leaves, A and B, of sheet-iron, and the window-casing with the usual metal cross-bar, C. To the lower part of this casing, or in some other convenient manner, are fixed two springs, D. These springs may be spiral or of any other suitable form. The leaf B of the shutter is in every respect the same as is any ordinary shutter-leaf, and-is held fast in its closed position by the leaf A, which overlaps its front edge, a, precisely as in all shutters of this character.

To the leaf A, in any suitable manner, is pivoted a latch, E. This latch passes through the leaf A, and its inner end is provided with the ordinary catch, by Its other end, however, consists of a cup-shaped or concavo-con- Vex plate, F, with the concave side undermost. This device is so pivoted to the leaf A as to permit the catch b to engage with the under side of the cross-bar c of the windows, in which position it is held by the gravity of the plate F, so that when the leaf B is closed and the leaf A overlaps its front edge, as before stated, and the catch b is engaged with the bar c, the shutters are tightly secured in their closed position, and ordinarily they cannot be opened, except by employing force for that purpose. By my invention, however, a fireman has only to direct the stream of water from hislplay-pipe against the under side of the plate F, when the catch b is instantly disengaged from the bar c, and the springs D, being at liberty to exert their resilient power, force open the shutters at once, giving ingress to the burning building without further trouble or effort.

To prevent the shutters from being opened by dishonest or mischievous persons, it is designed to place the latches in positions where they cannot be readily reached by the hand or cane from the street level. The shutters are opened from the inside of the building in the Ordinary manner. i

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, with the shutters A B, springs D, and bar C, of the latch E, having the hook b to engage the bar C to lock it, and the inverted concavo=convex plate F to hold said hook in engagement with the bar by its gravity, and to afford means against which to direct a stream of water to release the latch to open the shutters in case of fire, all substantially as shown and described.

JOHN A. BURR.

In presence Of WILLIAM P. BURR, BERNARD REILLY, Jr. 

